


Silver

by feverbeats



Category: Norse Mythology, Thor (2011), Thor (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-29
Updated: 2011-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-21 23:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He would remake the new word from the ashes of the old but he would do it his way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver

**Author's Note:**

> As usual. This is comicsverse, movieverse, myths, and made up bullshit.

Loki had made a series of mistakes in his life, mostly with increasingly dire consequences, but he'd always had Ragnarok at the end as a sort of reset. So when everything was burned and bleeding and he was still breathing at the end of it, he was a little concerned.

He stood cautiously and looked around. Heimdall's fingers had been at been at his throat, blood in both their eyes, and then this. He glanced around and the world was still burning, but it was nearly done. Everything was becoming ashes. Heimdall lay still at his feet, struck down by someone else's sword. Loki hadn't seen who, because he had destroyed the person with magic before he'd had a chance to think.

It wouldn't be long before the cycle began anew, and Loki was  _alive_.

Here, at the crack between past and future, he had the power to shape the next world. At least he hoped he did.

He reached down quickly and swiped a hand across Heimdall's forehead, covering his palm in the still-sticky blood. This would have worked better with Odin's blood, or Balder's, but those were not currently options. If he didn't work quickly, though, Balder would return on his own.

The sun was red and it wasn't setting, but soon it would. Time seemed to have slowed, or burned down to a trickle, here at the end.

Loki lifted Heimdall's sword—it was heavy, so this was difficult—and cut across his own palm, spilling his blood and mingling it with Heimdall's. He was very tired, and his robes were filthy with ash and blood, and he didn't really expect his plan to work. But if it did . . .

He raised his bloody hands to the bloody sun and began to call them back.

"Tyr one-hand, sacrifice to wolves, Odinson, champion of kings. I call you back from Hela's realm, from jaws of Garmer and the path of ashes." The sun painted his hand even brighter red, and gold light crept between his fingers from nowhere.

He would remake the new word from the ashes of the old but he would do it his way. In fact, if he was going to do things his way, he might as well complete the picture. He wasted a little magic shaking off his old shape and slipping into a new one.

There. That would help them to listen to her, anyway. In a new world, she'd like to look as if she was a new woman. Even if she brought her brothers back with her own hands, there was a high chance some of them would doubt her, would fail to follow.

She'd been just in time, because Tyr appeared beyond the edge of the world, outlined against the bloody, now sinking sun. His sword was already in his hand.

Loki smiled and took a handful of bloody earth from the ground.

"Hoder, blind god, kinslayer. I call you back from Vali's sword and Hela's table."

She wasn't sure if Hoder would answer to kinslayer, but there was room enough for guilt in his nature that Loki hoped. If nothing else, she hoped he would come to confront her.

And sure enough, Hoder joined Tyr on the horizon, hands clenched in fists. He'd had further to come than Tyr, perhaps, but he had traveled more swiftly. He must have been more eager to return to the world.

Loki made herself take a steadying breath before she called her next brother.

"Thor, thunderer, foe of the Midgard serpent, I call you back from its belly. Rest, now. Lay down your arms and heed your sister's call."

Her call for Thor had to be creative, had to catch his interest. Tyr was always quick to come to battle, and Hoder and Balder were both meant to return and begin the cycle, but Thor had always been stubborn. He'd be curious to see Loki's new form, though.

When he appeared, his hammer was not in his hand. They would have to work on that. There were still marks on his skin from Jormungander's venom. The reminder that Thor had been dead only moments before shook Loki, but she couldn't afford to show it until she was finished. Three of her brothers stood silhouetted against the dying sun.

Now for the last step. She must not leave out anything true.

"Balder, god of light, harbinger of Ragnarok. Slain by mistletoe, slain by brother—" She paused. This wouldn't work if she tried to blame Hoder for his death, so she had best be clear. "Slain by Liesmith. Balder the brave, lord of Breidablik, tormented by nightmares." She slashed her hand again and raised it against the last sliver of the sun. "Balder, my brother, beloved. I call you."

The sun went down.

Loki shut her eyes against the dark and waited. When she opened them, the world was light again. She feared for a moment that it was just the start of the next cycle, but when she focused she could see it was coming from a person.

There were now four men standing on the horizon. Balder's white hair hung in his eyes and he was glowing silver with an almost blinding intensity. Loki fought a wash of emotion she couldn't identify as anything familiar. It had been too long.

"Tyr," she called out, "come to me."

To her delight, he came without complaint. When he reached her, he even dropped to his knee at her feet. "What is your will, my lady?" he asked. His voice was still rough, still his own, but Loki had pulled him from death and into a new world. He owed her something.

"You," she said, reaching down to ruffle his hair with still-bloody nails, "You will be my champion. You will defend me and slay those enemies I wish slain. In return, dear brother, you will be allowed free reign with violent temper, and with all of your passions."

She would have promised him a new hand, but some things were traditional, and each cycle was long. She would have hated to break a promise.

"I gladly accept," Tyr said, getting to his feet. There was blood in his hair.

Loki could already feel the world beginning to form once more around her. She wondered what shape it will be this time. All that mattered was that she had slipped between the cracks, escaped death in an unlikely stroke of luck, and been given a chance to give the world a little push as it starts to turn again. She may not remember this half-hour span, but she would benefit from it for years to come.

"Hoder," she said.

He came forward uncertainly, moving through the rubble and bodies with great care. She nearly wished he'd trip and fall, but they had no time to waste. He didn't kneel, but he did stop before her. "My lady." His voice was mild, as always. She'd nearly expected venom.

"Hoder," she said, "You will be my keeper of spell books. A new cycle is coming, and I will have need of that."

Charging him with keeping books was just cruel enough.

"Gladly," Hoder said flatly.

She could practically feel him trying not to look around for Balder.

"Thor," she called, and she had to fight a twinge of disappointment when Thor actually came. He was probably still rattled from death.

He went down on one knee more elegantly than Tyr, although his empty-handedness was jarring. "Loki."

Not  _my lady_ , at least.

Loki touched Thor's cheek. "You will be my traveler. You will adventure far and wide across the Nine Realms, across the Bifrost, doing my bidding and keeping my kingdom safe." The only way her reign would last, she knew, was if she kept Thor far from her. For a variety of reasons.

She would worry about Odin later. She knew, though, that he would be no match for all five of them.

"If you wish it," Thor said. He didn't look as distant as the others, and his eyes narrowed when they met hers.

She dismissed him to stand with the others.

Then she turned to Balder, still their only source of light. His glow had dimmed to a faint silver shimmer in the darkness between death and life, end and beginning. He came to her without being called.

Loki reached out and took his hand. "And you, Balder, will be my king. You will sit on the throne for me and speak my words through your beautiful lips and hold my kingdom in your hand. You will do this without question."

Balder had always obeyed Loki without question in life, and despite the fact that Loki had called him back from death with an admission of guilt, she was confident that he would obey her still.

When he said nothing, she prompted, "Do you accept this charge?"

Then Balder smiled. "No, Loki," he said.

Loki froze. "What?"

Balder laughed, a bright sound like a chime. The world around them seemed to take the sound up and echo it back to them. "I do not accept, sister. I admire your attempt to make the world as you would have it, but you do not have that power. And certainly not if this is how you choose to wield it."

Before Loki could protest, Balder surged forward and hugged her tightly.

"I missed you," he said.

"I murdered you," Loki said miserably into Balder's neck. She felt fourteen again, furious and unhappy.

Balder pulled back and looked at her. "I missed you anyway. Let's crawl out of this crack between times and find a more pleasant place to rest." He threw his arm carelessly around Loki's shoulders. "Tyr, Thor, Hoder, let's go."

The three of them turned to look at him, all seeming to awaken from a daze at the same moment. Loki cursed under her breath. One little word from Balder and all her hard work had been undone.

"Balder," Hoder said uncertainly.

Balder disengaged himself from Loki and tugged her closer to the others until he could grip her hand and Hoder's.

"I'm here," he said.

"Loki," Thor sighed, apparently too tired to be furious, "Did you really think you could set the course of the next cycle with a paltry spell?"

Loki was tempted to tell him that the spell had been anything but paltry, and that her hand still hurt, but she was too busy being ragingly disappointed. She could have had all her brothers in the palm of her hand, controlled, obedient, subservient. She could have had control over an entire kingdom, with any luck. She could have—

"I don't know why you always set out to do things you'll hate," Balder said lightly. He squeezed Loki's hand. "Come on. Let's begin." He took a step toward the growing pale gold light on the horizon.

Loki followed.


End file.
